This Is My Secret: The Blog and Website of Writer Kristin Cashore

Last week I did something I've never done before.



Suffice it to say that I'm neither the next Marian nor the next Daine nor the next Katniss (read all those books!), nor was I able to move my left arm for the next two days; nonetheless, I really liked it, and I want to go again. Thanks to Mr. Charlie Nelson, a kind and patient teacher, and to my outlaw brother-in-law, secret code name: Joe, for having the idea in the first place.
Ladies and gentlemen, I would now like to reveal the Danish cover of Graceling!

It was designed by Danish artist Bent Holm, and I love it. He did both the illustration and the fonts.

"Talentian" is the closest Danish translation for "Graceling." "Katsas fortælling" means "Katsa's story." And the #1 is because, unlike my other publishers, Tellerup is publishing Graceling in two volumes. Volume One will be released in a month or two, and Volume Two will be released a month or two after that. I'm not posi…

Graceling has hit the children's bestseller list in Italy. Somewhere in a Sicilian graveyard, the spirits of my great-great grandparents are dancing. I think there might be a few people dancing in South Jersey, as well :o)
The Nebula Awards were announced this weekend, and the winner of the Andre Norton Award (for which Graceling was a finalist) is Ysabeau S. Wilce's Flora's Dare: How a Girl of Spirit Gambles All to Expand Her Vocabulary, etc., etc. Congrats to Wilce! I haven't read any Flora books yet, but they're at the top of my list. I know from talk among my friends that the SFWA made an excellent choice. :o) All the 2008 Nebula winners are here.
The Graveyard Book has been named the ABA's Best Indie Young Adult Buzz Book of the year. It's also the book I read over the weekend. It made me happy; it's beautifully written and beautifully simple, and creepy and sad. Congrats to Neil Gaiman. Graceling was named an honor book in the same category…

Thus spake National Book Award-winning Sherman Alexie.

Here are a couple of myths about YA lit: (1) YA is all like Harry Potter. (A myth popular among those who've read little YA other than Harry Potter. And don't get me wrong, I love Harry Potter! But he's SO not representative of all YA. No single series could be.) (2) YA is only read, loved, lauded and applauded by young adults.
BWA-HA-HAHAHAHAAAA! LIES! ALL LIES!!!!!
Ahem.
Are you a person who hasn't read much YA? If so, I am now going to recommend some beautiful and complex YA literature that will knock your socks off, even if you're so old that you grew up in the 1920s wearing spats, making your socks more difficult to access. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie (realism)
The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume One and Volume Two, by M.T. Anderson (realism)Postcards from No Man's Land, by Aidan Chambers (realism)The House on Mango Street, by…

A new link to the left: My appearance schedule. I'll update as I get more info.

A reminder that there's going to be a conference in Vail, Colorado in October called Sirens, all about women in fantasy -- Tamora Pierce, Sherwood Smith, and I are the guests of honor. The website is here and the LiveJournal is here. It's going to be FUN, not to mention gorgeous scenery!
Also, go here to learn more about the Simmons College Summer Institute 2009 in Boston in July, called Crimes and Misdemeanors. Some of the names on the program (that's a pdf file, btw): Gareth Hinds, Lenore Look, Marilyn Nelson, Martha Brooks, Kevin Henkes, Avi, Blue Balliett, JonArno Lawson, Natalie Babbit, Ellen Levine, Jack Gantos, and M.T. Anderson. (and me)
Next, a couple of answers to recent questions: Yes, there will be a Graceling audiobook. It's by Full Cast Audio and comes out in June. And yes, Graceling is available as an ebook. Buy the Kindle Harcourt (USA) edition at Amazon, or the ebo…

(Or so sings Lou Reed in one of the best songs ever... except that it sounds so sad when he sings it. I don't mean it so sadly!)
Last week was a tough one. You know those times when you're contemplating everything you've done in the past year, and then suddenly you realize you did all that stuff in the past month?

Anyway, Wednesday night, I went to bed completely rattled, burned out, and beat. Thursday morning, I woke to a phone call from a lady at my credit card company, who was calling to verify suspicious activity on my account. She was right: I had NOT purchased a song online for 99 cents the day before. (Though I had three days prior, making it a particularly clever theft for the perpetrator to have perpetrated -- but, um, still a bit underwhelming? 99 cents? Is it really worth going to all the trouble of being nefarious to buy one song on iTunes?). Why, I asked the lady, would anyone steal my credit card info and then spend 99 cents? I dropped my credit card in …

My FAQ pages are up. Click on the "Frequently Asked Questions" link on the left, which will bring you to my FAQ Index... or, if you're not actually on my blog at the moment, just go here.
If you've been reading my blog for a while, there won't be anything new, but the questions are more organized now. And if you're new to my blog and have sent me questions, you'll find a lot of answers there.
In honor of the occasion, I'll answer one new question:
On your "My Books" page, you say that Katsa, Po, & Co. will appear in Bitterblue. What do you mean by "& Co.?" *smile* Literally, it means, "and company," but I don't think that's what you're asking. What it really means is that I'm close-mouthed about works in progress -- I need to be, for my own writing process -- and I'm not willing to name the Graceling characters who appear in Bitterblue just yet, other than Katsa and Po. You're not the on…

Spanish cover ---> click to enlarge --->

Hi everyone! What's going on with you these days? Ready to hear my 4 for the win?
1. TWO OF THE WORLD'S BEST PUBLISNOODS So, if you've been reading my blog for a while, you may recall my snood-ish battle cries, such as, OUT, DAMN SNOOD! and SNOOD, BE DAMNED!, invented by my Ladies of the Snood. Well, those ladies, Barbara Fisch and Sarah Shealy, former Associate Directors of Publicity at Harcourt Children's Books, have launched their own company, Blue Slip Media, specializing in publicity and marketing for children's books. Barb and Sarah are priceless. They're talented, experienced, great at what they do, so much fun, and they always made me feel completely taken care of. (They once gave me the best tip ever for conquering the fear of public speaking: Just picture everyone in their snoods! HA HA HA HEE hoo) ANYWAY. If you're in need of publicity work, hire them. (And don't worry, they won't com…

A box of French Gracelings appeared on my doorstep on Friday, so either it's out now in France or it will be soon. yAt!

Also, I'm thrilled to announce that I have a deal with Ediposs Publishing House to publishGraceling in both Czech and Slovak. Double yAt!
Next, I'd just like to say that I'm way behind in EVERYTHING, especially everything email- and blog-related. I had hopes of finalizing my FAQ pages this weekend and putting them up for you all, but I failed on that count. I hope to put the FAQs pages up soon (maybe next weekend?), and when I do, they should answer a lot of the questions I've gotten in comments and on email lately.
Finally, like the t-shirt I got in New York?

I got it (and a delicious cupcake) at the Magnolia Bakery. And I got my photography degree at The University of How-to-Take-Terrible-Self-Portraits-in-Which-Your-Head-Looks-Eerily-Large.
Pics from Bologna coming soon!

Hellooooooooooo beautiful people!
I'm home.
I'm still processing the last two weeks, so this post might be scattered.
I'll start in Bologna, where I had dinner in a restored medieval tower with my editors / publishers from Italy, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Finland, and Spain (both Castillan and Catalan), not to mention my wonderful agents and scouts from all over Europe. The dinner took place on the middle floors of the tower, but beforehand, we climbed up the steep (and I think it would be fair to say perilous) steps (and, closer to the top, ladders) to the roof, for a toast. The view of Bologna at night from the roof of the Torre Prendiparte was just... well, let's just say that I started to cry. I simply could not believe that I was on top of this beautiful tower looking out at this beautiful city with all of these beautiful people.
What else?
A knight accompanied me to my press conference and stood behind me the entire time. I've never felt so safe in my …